This invention relates to an improved method of starting or re-starting a flyer frame.
In a flyer frame, when bobbins fitted onto respective spindles on the bobbin support rail become full, they are doffed and empty bobbins are fitted in their place onto the respective spindles. Then, the end of a rove connected to the roller part of the flyer frame is attached to each of the empty bobbins. Heretofore, this attaching operation has been carried out manually by the operator for every rove end.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there are views illustrating two modes of the attaching operation. In the mode of FIG. 1, a length of a rove greater than the circumference of the empty bobbin 1 is supplied through the roller part by the inching operation of the main motor of the flyer frame so that the supplied rove can pass across the rove end, whereby the rove end is enabled to be manually pressed against the cylindrical surface of the empty bobbin by the supplied rove as well as by a well known presser 3 biased against the empty bobbin.
In the mode shown in FIG. 2, a bobbin 1 is employed which has a rove holding member, such as a napped cloth 4, circumferentially disposed therearound in a position allowing the presser 3 to contact the napped cloth 4 when th bobbin rail is in a position at the begining of the winding operation. At the doffing, the rove is cut at a portion which is a suitable distance away from the extremity of the flyer presser 3, and then the operator strongly presses the cut end against the napped cloth 4 with the presser 3. In both of the two modes illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the operator must carry out the abovenoted manual operation for every empty bobbin. Thus, the operator is required to perform the very complicated rove end attaching operation. Furthermore, since the starting operation of the flyer frame is allowed to commence only upon the completion of the above manual operation for all of the empty bobbins, the down time of the flyer frame is relatively long, resulting in a lower operation efficiency.
In order to remove the abovenoted disadvantages, it has been desired to automatically attach the rove end around the empty bobbin to thereby allow the automatic operation of the flyer frame. However, even through the automatic attaching of the rove end around the empty bobbin has been tried on the bobbin shown in FIG. 2, a favorable result could not be obtained because of the following reason. That is, after the doffing, even if the bobbin rail is raised so as to position the napped cloth 4 of the empty bobbin 1 at the same height as the presser 3 and then the flyer frame is started, a rove slackening phenomenon has occurred between the flyer top and the front rollers (in the case of the flyer frame shown in FIGS. 6A-6E) at each of half or more of the total number of spindles in the flyer frame. Thus, the operator has been required to stop the flyer frame to take necessary manual steps to remove the slack to the rove. Otherwise, the slackened rove would be swung about the flyer neck by means of the centrifugal force applied thereon, resulting in a rove break.
It is accordingly a principal object of this invention to provide a method of starting a flyer frame, which can automatically remove any slack of a rove occurring in the flyer frame and allows the rove end to be automatically attached to the bobbin.